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City People

T-shirt biz a good fit for this entrepreneur

Thanks to some free thinking and a little bit of persistence, he's seen his businesses take off.

By ELISABETH DYER
Published May 12, 2006

EAST YBOR HISTORIC

Nothing gets Jimmy Snyder Breen more psyched than seeing someone on the street wearing one of his shirts.

"At first it kind of caught me off guard,'' Breen said. "I got really excited and told a buddy, 'Look over there at that guy. He's definitely wearing one of my polos.' "

In August, Breen, 21, opened Merch Robot, a screen printing T-shirt business in Ybor City with two friends, Rick Tastad, 22, and Josh Carrico, 28. The company sells merchandise for several online outlets, including Heartcore, which features alternative T-shirt designs.

Already, Heartcore is making waves, and by summer, a few of Breen's designs will be in malls across the United States, he said.

The trio says its youth is both a hindrance and an asset.

"Sometimes we run into people who don't take us seriously because they don't know what we're capable of or what we've done," Breen said.

The men know their target market, young people, well. They were among the first to link their T-shirt designs to kids' individual MySpace.com pages.

Their company gets about 50 orders a day through the Web site, merchrobot.com.

"We're innovative, not so set in our ways,'' Carrico said.

They aren't above using the muscle of their fans to win business. That's how they scored a deal to get their T-shirts in Hot Topic apparel stores, which has locations at International Plaza, Westfield Brandon Mall and University Mall.

Breen sent this message to his teen customers: "Hey, kids, you want to see our T-shirts in Hot Topic, send an e-mail here" and provided a link to the store.

Enough people sent messages that marketers at Hot Topic e-mailed Breen back. "Hey, our Hot Topic office is being bombed with e-mails about Heartcore. Stop."

But it got him in the door.

Designs come to Breen on a whim.

During class one day at the University of South Florida, he drew a dinosaur and wrote over its back, "Hey, you're extinct. You stink." The yellow T-shirt is a best-seller with girls.

While in the bathroom, he drew a whale eating clouds, one of the designs that will appear at Hot Topic stores.

Breen was in elementary school in Indiana when he started his first business, parking cars in the family's yard near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. People returned to find their cars washed and often gave him a tip. He further tapped the market with a frozen lemonade stand.

When he was 13, his mother, Lisa Stevens, moved her three sons to Ruskin. Despite working two or three jobs, the single mother maintained close bonds and had big expectations for Breen and his brothers.

"I'm really proud of him," she said. "He's always been intensely driven, always wanted more."

Breen earned a Bright Futures scholarship while at East Bay High School in Gibsonton and began studying business at USF in 2002.

In class, he doodled while his instructors harped, "The best way to learn is hands-on."

After two years, he took their advice and dropped out to devote his efforts to business.

Breen splits his time between his girlfriend's home in Town 'N Country and the Ybor City warehouse, where he works 60- to 70-hour weeks.

On a recent Saturday afternoon, Tastad sprayed adhesive onto an automatic screen printing platform and Breen slid a T-shirt on top, smoothing it just so, and grabbed another while the machine spread ink.

"It's sweatshop work at its finest," Tastad said.

For Breen, it's a dream realized.

"I could be in dental school right now, getting a job working for somebody else, but I wouldn't be happy doing that," he said.

Elisabeth Dyer can be reached at edyer@sptimes.com or 813 226-3321.

Jimmy Breen

AGE: 21

GIG: Owns Heartcore Clothing Inc. and co-owns Merch Robot in Ybor City

PARTNERS: Rick Tastad, 22, and Josh Carrico, 28

FAMILY: Mom, Lisa Stevens; younger brothers, Jason and Paul

CELL PHONE RING: Laugh of Family Guy's Peter Griffin

INK: He has a tattoo on his left arm of an old captain's saying, "Vows made in storms are forgotten in calm waters." On his right wrist, his motto: Live the life you love.

PIERCINGS: Snake bites in his bottom lip

DOWN TIME: Creates shirt designs for indie bands and tours with bands selling shirts

WEB SITE: merch robot.com

[Last modified May 11, 2006, 13:56:49]